Is 2300AD insisting on keeping the War of German Reunification in their latest version of the game (MGT) just them being too in love with their own background, or am I missing something?

The game was written in the 80s, when Germany was two countries in the Real World - East & West Germany. So their history is thus:1) Real world - Germany is 2 countries2) 2300 backstory - Germany splits a bit more in the Twilight War, with some meddling from France.3) 2300 backstory - War of German Reunification. Back to one country.

The latest edition has this history:1) Real world - Germany is 2 countries2) Real world - Berlin Wall comes down, Cold War ends, Germany becomes one country.3) 2300 backstory - For no adequately explained reason Germany splits back into several states in the Twilight War, with some meddling from France. No other country does this.4) 2300 backstory - War of German Reunification. Back to one country.

Author:

EDG [ Sun Feb 16, 2014 7:44 pm ]

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Re: War of German Reunification - huh?

Are you on Facebook? The 2300AD Facebook group is probably the best place to ask this sort of question (Colin Dunn - the current 2300AD author - is on there a lot more too)

Author:

rust [ Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:47 am ]

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Re: War of German Reunification - huh?

strontygirl wrote:

Is 2300AD insisting on keeping the War of German Reunification in their latest version of the game (MGT) just them being too in love with their own background, or am I missing something?

The 2300AD timeline is the result of a strategic wargame played at GDW, andthis game unfortunately ignored much of the real world's politics and replacedit with a somewhat stupid 19th century scenario. Mongoose's 2300AD kept alot of the resulting timeline because major changes of that history would have enforced equally major changes for example in the status of many colonies.All in all, Germany's implausible (well, outright silly) history in 2300AD and theeven more silly German names used in the game were and are responsible forthe fact that the game never became a bestseller in Germany.

Author:

strontygirl [ Wed Feb 19, 2014 7:36 pm ]

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Re: War of German Reunification - huh?

Thanks guys.I'm not on Facebook (bah, humbug). Just feeling all lonely on LiveJournal

Author:

Cyborg IM1 [ Thu Mar 06, 2014 2:38 pm ]

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Re: War of German Reunification - huh?

Germany wasn't the only country to split up during Twilight.

The US split into 3 (2 later reunited, Texas remains independent), China disintegrated into 3 countries (China, Manchuria, CAR). Russia (Soviet Union in the original game) split into a bunch of countries and now only goes as far east as the Urals. Canada split into 2 countries (Quebec joining France later).

Germany was just the most fractured (blame the french), but certainly not the only country to split up in the chaos that was Twilight.

In your own setting, if you want Germany to have stayed united, then do it. Then you just have to explain why a united Germany let France dominate Europe for almost 300 years.

My own world map has quite a few changes from the Official history. I have kept the US split up and divided it even more, destroying Canada completely. In my version the Chinese and European arms are much closer in power and tech with the American arm being the weakest.

Sure, the idea of a united Germany fracturing and then getting back together seems weird to us, but go back a hundred years and look at a map of the world just before WW1. VERY different than today and most of those changes would not have been predictable back then, so what could happen in a hundred or three-hundred years is probably not too predictable to anyone today.

The "Arab Spring" could/can still go in several directions, the middle east changes a lot depending on which way things tip in the next few years.

It was less the splitting/not splitting than the fact that they took a completely different starting point and still ended up with the same finishing point. Tortured analogy:Version 1 - started with ham and cheese, finished with a cheese and ham sandwich.Version 2 - started with bacon, lettuce and tomato, yet still finished up with a cheese and ham sandwich.

Author:

Cyborg IM1 [ Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:40 pm ]

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Re: War of German Reunification - huh?

Ah, OK.

I see your point now.

Colin was a bit stuck since he pretty much HAD to use the existing 2300 setting. He kept Twilight very vague (deliberately) and basically said, "Here is where where we are."

Yes, it might seem a bit contrived, but he was stuck with what he was given.

Author:

Sir Chaos [ Mon Mar 17, 2014 2:32 pm ]

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Re: War of German Reunification - huh?

Cyborg IM1 wrote:

Ah, OK.

I see your point now.

Colin was a bit stuck since he pretty much HAD to use the existing 2300 setting. He kept Twilight very vague (deliberately) and basically said, "Here is where where we are."

Yes, it might seem a bit contrived, but he was stuck with what he was given.

That´s pretty much what I was told, a long time ago, when I petitioned that the horrible German colony names (don´t mention them; I´m trying to forget these abominations) should be changed for 2320AD.